THE-ICE BRS X (Saturday 28th November 2015)

Service Design Thinking

This event is to be dovetailed to THE-ICE 9th IPoE (International Panel of Experts) Forum. The location for the BRS X is the Mövenpick Hotel – Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Proudly hosted by Stenden University of Applied Sciences, Stenden Hotel Management School and School of Leisure & Tourism Management in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.

Proudly hosted by:

THE-ICE BRS VIII – 2014

– held on 11-Nov-2014 as the Pre-Forum Workshop of THE-ICE 8th IPoE (International Panel of Experts) Forum 2014, proudly hosted by Charles Darwin University School of Business and School of Service Industries, Darwin, Australia

THE-ICE BRS (Benchmarking Roundtable Series) VII – 2014

– held on 11-July-2014, proudly hosted by The Hotel School Sydney, Sydney, Australia

Providing collegial sharing and peer support educators & researchers from vocational, private and higher education sectors, as well as industry and government representatives, attended this event which focussed on developing and promoting institutional distinctiveness in a world of standards.

Following the preliminary findings of the Office of Teaching & Learning Teaching & Learning Outcomes Standards Project (OLT-TLO) being released at the first symposium on 1-2 July (Melbourne), discussions included:

Dr Paul Whitelaw of William Angliss Institute, Melbourne, heads the current OLT-TLO Standards Project. His facilitation of this event enabled Members to come together, reflect, and work on models, as well as draw some benchmarking statements from the OLT-TLO preliminary findings.

Presentations were offered by key players in this subject area including:

Participants were given an opportunity to share their own experiences in a group brainstorming session – enabling identification of key areas by exploring the issues, themes and ideas that need to be considered when developing an institutional position, and courses that drive that position.

Reflections included how institutions can develop their unique/ distinctive position – and how the HESP guidelines (Higher Education Standards Panel) can be used to develop courses, curriculum, pedagogy, and assesment, so that “assurance of learning” at the TLO level may be provided.

Proudly hosted by THSS

THE-ICE BRS (Benchmarking Roundtable Series) VI – 2013

– held on 26-July-2013, proudly hosted by William Blue College of Hospitality Management, Sydney, Australia

Facilitated by Dr Paul Whitelaw, the day provided collegial sharing and peer support. Educators & researchers from both vocational, private and higher education sectors attended this series of roundtables, which focused on Meeting TEQSA standards – Assurance for learning – Achieving Academic and Scholarly Integrity.

Key discussion was around questions such as:

What does TEQSA mean by standards and threshold learning outcomes (TLOs)?

What are the expected outcomes and processes that are involved and how do we document these processes

What standards should be put in place to ensure academic and scholarly integrity for tourism, hospitality and event management graduates?

Esteemed presenters included Emeritus Professor Geoff Scott (Higher Education and Sustainability, the University of Western Sydney & leader of the UN endorsed Regional Centre for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development, Greater Western Sydney) who presented on strategies for assuring academic standards – and Dr Paul Whitelaw (Victoria University) who shared an overview of the OLT Threshold Learning Outcomes Project.

Ms Trish Fairbourn (Head of Academic Studies, Higher Education APN College of Business & Communication) presented on the College’s Reflection of the overarching documents for TEQSA, having recently gone through the TEQSA submission process. Ms Leigh Pointon (Director, Academic Programme & Student Services, Queensland Institute of Business and Technology) delivered an explanation of the Exemplary Academic Integrity Project (EAIP) Policy toolkit and how it can be used to make connections with the requirements of TEQSA.

Participants were given an opportunity to share their own experiences relating to TEQSA and what documentation and processes were involved with the purpose of addressing TEQSA requirements.

A group brainstorming session was held to identify areas of concern and strategically drill into these issues and how we go about demonstrating assurance for learning as part of our pursuit of academic and scholarly integrity.

Ms Leigh Pointon gave a demonstration on the resources available and some examples of best practice in policy and practice.

The pursuance of academic integrity for both students and academic staff is paramount and workshop outcomes will provide participants with a clear knowledge and understanding of how to address and document academic and scholarly integrity for the purpose of meeting TEQSA requirements.

The inference of this Series was on meeting TEQSA requirements, with a focus on meeting National Academic Quality Framework (NAQF) outcomes and benchmarking statements of which provide potential best practice models for our global members to use as frames of reference in meeting their respective national best practice requirements.

Overview of OLT Project – Exemplary Academic Integrity

The Exemplary Academic Integrity Project, an Office of Learning & Teaching (OLT) project, aims to extend and embed the five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy identified by a recent ALTC project (Bretag et al 2010-2012) – access, approach, responsibility, detail and support – across the Australian Higher Education sector. Central to these elements is a commitment by providers to fostering a culture of academic integrity.

As support is crucial to enact exemplary policy, this OLT project will develop resources accessible to both public and private higher education providers to embed these elements.

Two critical areas identified by Bretag et al (2012) are addressed in this project. First, support systems will be developed for vulnerable student groups including international English as an Additional Language (EAL) students, and educationally less prepared students who struggle to understand the concept of academic integrity without assistance. Second, the lessons about exemplary academic integrity policy and support frameworks will be extended to include higher degree by research (HDR) students.

THE-ICE BRS (Benchmarking Roundtable Series) V – 2013

Ethics and values within tourism & hospitality education curriculum

The workshop was attended by educators & researchers from vocational, private and higher education sectors.

Specifically, the workshop was held to consider, discuss and debate the following key issues:

What is ethical behaviour and how can this be put into practice?

What values should tourism and hospitality graduates possess?

How do we instil these values in our graduates?

What are the barriers and challenges in developing these values?

How can ethics and values be brought into the curriculum?

Should they be part of the formal or informal curriculum space?

As ethics, values, corporate social responsibility (CSR), climate change and sustainability are becoming increasingly important, the workshop has been designed to consider ways to engage our students at a philosophical, conceptual and practical level.

Proudly hosted by:

THE-ICE BRS (Benchmarking Roundtable Series) IV – 2012

Educators & researchers from both vocational, private and higher education sectors attended the event. Series IV focused on Assessment and Learning Outcomes/Graduate Attributes and how we operate within the standards of Australia’s regulatory and quality agency TEQSA. As vocational, private and higher education institutions we are required to provide substantial proof and evidence that all areas of assessment and graduate outcomes meet the regulatory standards of TEQSA.

Ms Lynn Richardson of William Angliss Institute presented on the challenges of streamlining between the VET and HE and the quality in assessment and related learning outcomes. Lynn described the extra-curricular curriculum – a planned set of activities and support facilities that sits alongside, complements and interfaces with the formal academic curriculum. She also highlighted the need to develop English language skills.
View Lynn’s presentation Ms Lynn Richardson – William Angliss Institute

Dr Paul Whitelaw Victoria University presented an overview of The project titled “Building a Stronger Future: Australian Tourism, Hospitality & Events Education” This project was led by Dianne Dredge Southern Cross University through the Office for Teaching & Learning (OLT).

The aim of this project is to map the tourism, hospitality and events curriculum space and to build a foundation of information from which we can start to discuss important issues about curriculum design, content, delivery, academic standards and graduate outcomes. The objectives of the project are to:

The work provides the baseline for a comprehensive discussion about the totality of hospitality, tourism and events education and training from front line induction training through degree level, masters and PhD as well as post graduation industry oriented professional development programmes. A key aim of presenting to THE-ICE Benchmarking Roundtable Series is to give colleagues a “heads up” on the intention to expand this work to include the NSAI sector as well as the VE sector.
View Paul’s presentation Dr Paul Whitelaw – Victoria University

Mr Ron Hilvert, Managing Director, The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management Dubai presented on Learning Outcomes and Graduate Attributes From an Industry Perspective. The advantages of having strong industry links for internships and employment of graduates and faculty development and consultancy opportunities. The challenges included compatibility of policies between SBUs and the school, students might have unrealistic expectations of employment and education not viewed as a commercially driven endeavour.
View Ron’s presentation Mr Ron Hilvert – Emirates Academy of Hospitaliy Management

Benchmarking Roundtable Sessions to be held in March & August 2013 will further address the specific areas of governance, examination and moderation.

Proudly hosted by: BMIHMS

THE-ICE BRS (Benchmarking Roundtable Series) III – 2012

Curriculum Design

– held on 13-June-2012, proudly hosted by the School of Tourism, The University of Queensland

Series lll focused on Curriculum Design “how different organisation approach the design of curriculum, what stakeholders are involved and how standards are determined and benchmarked”.

The facilitators Dr Pierre Benckendorff and Ms Aliisa Mylonas, Educational Designer from UQ School of Tourism, led discussions and provided group workshops throughout the day. Brainstorming focused on the identified issues and challenges in Curriculum Design.

Facilitated by Mr Tim Biddle, the session discussed benchmarking the commonalities, differences and emerging issues relating to internship structures across institution, with the objective of to identify those areas that can be benchmarked between institutions, and to identify best-practice.

Industry Advisory Boards (IAB)

Industry Advisory Boards (IAB) are a particular feature of tourism, hospitality and events education. Such Boards can be found to exist at both the institutional level (for stand-alone hotel schools), or at the Department/ School level within larger institutions. Following on from the 1st Roundtable session the issue related to benchmarking the role, structure and activities of an Industry Advisory Board were discussed. Facilitated by Prof Perry Hobson, the the issues included: